AuthorTopic: Who thought of the name "The Beatles"? (Read 2902 times)

"Well, I remembered the other day when somebody mentioned the Crickets at a press conference. I'd forgotten all about that. I was looking for a name like the Crickets that meant two things, and from Crickets I got to Beatles. I changed the B-e-a because it didn't mean two things on its own. B, double-e-t-l-e-s didn't mean two things. So, I changed the 'a,' added the 'e' to the 'a', and it meant two things, then. I mean, it didn't have to mean two things, but it said.., it was beat and beetles and when you said it people thought of crawly things and when you read it was beat music."

-John Lennon

"John came up with this name Beatles and it was good, because it was sort of the insect and also the pun, you know, b-e-a-t on the beat. We just liked the name and we kept it."

-George Harrison

"When we first heard "Crickets"... Back in England, there's the game cricket, and we knew about the little chirpy, hoppity-goes-to-town type crickets. So, we thought they'd been brilliant, they'd really got this amazing double meaning name, of like the game and the bug. We thought this was brilliant, we thought, well, we've got to do this. So John and Stuart (Sutcliffe )came up with this name that the rest of us hated, this Beatles, spelled with an "a." We said, "Why?" They said, "Well, you know, this is a bug, and its got a double meaning, just like the Crickets. We were influenced in many, many ways."

-Paul McCartney

"Stuart did think up the name beetles because it was an insect and he wanted to associate it with Buddy Holly's group The Crickets as the Quarry Men used a lot of Holly's numbers in their repertoire. John did add the 'a'. They told me this at the time.

- Bill Harry (Liverpool Music Scene Historian, Editor of The Mersey Beat and friend of John Lennon & Stu Sutcliffe)

So that settles it. Stu thought of beetles. John thought of "The Beatles", and everybody was telling the truth all along. Except for that part about the flaming pie. But who knows, maybe that was true as well.

This is also another example of Stu Sutcliffe or Pete Best making a significant contribution to The Beatles and not getting proper credit for it. A half century later, thanks to time and the internet, myths are being debunked and so many of these kind of real truths are there for all to learn. John Lennon would be pleased (and maybe amused).

i used the process of elimination and commonsense. there have been many names for the group, the quarrymen, johnny and the moondogs, the nerk twins, the silver beetles, silver beatles and finally the Beatles. all these names were the idea of john lennon. for all i know it might be another ringo-ism.

Many of the Beatles' answers to questions about their origins in the early days of Beatlemania were short, simple answers, avoiding any unnecessary elaboration. Example: "How did the Beatle haircut get started?" Early answers: "This is how we look when we wake up."; "We went swimming one day and didn't bring combs", etc. They didn't feel the need to discuss Stu and Astrid at that stage of the game. The Beatles seldom mentioned Hamburg, Pete Best, Klaus Voorman at all.

The day after the "Pete Forever, Ringo Never" fracas at the Cavern, George's explanation for his black eye was that he walked into a double-decker bus. No, seriously. I think that story was suggested by Brian Epstein to avoid making the incident a big deal. That's just my opinion.